Transfiguration
by Thoughts And Pondering
Summary: AU James Potter is not happy. Why? He has spent the last twelve years as a cat we all know...Crookshanks! When he is saved from the pet shop, he will embark on the journey to turn back into a human...what really happened after he 'died?
1. In A Pet Shop

A/N This was an odd idea that occurred to me, while doing my science homework. Why? I don't know. If you want to see more chapters of this, tell me! If I do continue this, it will in no way slow down my other story. Anyway, here's the first chapter.

_In a Pet Shop._

"I'm all alone now. Why did you leave me? Why did you leave me, dammit? You left me all alone here, nothing but a head full of memories to remember you by. You left me, to go to a better place. You left this world, and everything we have is now have is in our Gringott's vault, and our key has exploded in who knows how many bloody pieces! Oh, and no one knows I exist! Because I'm now a cat stuck in a fricking pet shop!"

I sat in my display, licking my paws. I had been thinking about my past again, my past as a _human. _How Voldemort had transfigured me at the last moment, turning me into a cat at the last moment. I followed him into the main bedroom…where I saw him murder Lily. My Lily. The bastard. And then he tried to kill Harry. But then the curse rebounded on him instead. Ha. For the past nine, or whatever many years had passed, I had been looking for Harry. My baby. But I had been unsuccessful so far. And then I got caught by the wizard pound, wandering Diagon Alley. Then I get put I here the Magical Mangerie. In a little cage. I couldn't even stand up! All I could do was lick my paws, which can get a bit boring if you do it day after day after day.

I pressed my face against the bars. I had my own cage, up the very top. I thought it was inhumane. Well, incatane, what ever you would call it in my current condition. I looked down. There was the various witches and wizards mingling inside. "Buy me." I wanted to say. "Let me out of here." But of course, all I could do was meow. So I meowed. I meowed as loud as I could, but with the various noises the other animals were making, they could not here me. And even if they could, would they understand my wants?

Three more people entered the shop. I sneezed; the cages in this shop were layered in inches of dust. One had bushy brown hair. One looked like his head was on fire, and if I could, I would have grabbed a glass of water and thrown it on his head. But of _course _I couldn't, I had paws! I tried to throw them in the air; like one might do with hands, but I lost my balance and fell on my stomach.

Then I saw the third person. And I recgonised him. A black, messy mop for hair. Hair I hadn't seen for years. Hair I used to see every time I looked in the mirror when I was a human. When I look in the mirror now, I frighten myself greatly, because I have a great fear of cats.

Could it be Harry?

I jumped out of my cage (It had no top). I had miscalculated my jump slightly, and accidentally landed on fire-boy's head. He let out a yelp of surprise, swiping at me. I jumped down with feline grace I never knew I had. I saw a rat running away, squeaking loudly. Rat and cat are like humans speaking two different languages. Even though, I heard the main gist of his squeaks. "Ah! CAT!" He squeaked as he ran out the door. I turned to look at the mop haired boy. There was no mistaking it. It was Harry. My little Harry, but all grown up. He looked so different, yet so familiar.

It's strange like that. But he was my son. My son, without his parents. "I'm right here you know!" I meowed, waving a paw, but that didn't get me very far.

I couldn't help but think there was something familiar about that rat. Something bad. I hissed at him, and he ran faster. If I could have laughed, I would have, but I couldn't so I didn't.

The two boys left the store, and I heard the fire-boy ask, "What was that?"

And I heard Harry reply; "It was either a very large cat or a very small tiger."

I wanted to yell, "I am neither! It's me, your father! I'm your father!" But I couldn't because cats can't converse in human tongues.

The bushy haired girl was still in the shop. She patted my head. "You're simply _gorgeous, _aren't you?" I purred, delighted at the praise.

"I'll take him!" She exclaimed, handing over some galleons. She pulled me in her arms and walked outside to meet fire-boy and Harry.

"You _bought _that thing, Hermione!"

I growled deeply, more like a dog. "I am not a thing!"

"Don't listen to that mean boy, Crookshanks. I think you're gorgeous!"

I jumped down and rubbed myself against Harry's legs. But I wished I could do more. I wish I could have been a father to him, helping him through his life. I wish I could have known what has happened in his life. I wish I knew him. I wish I were me again. Then I could be with Harry. Not as his best friend's cat, but as his father, like I should be!

The Hermione girl scooped back in her arms as we went to the Leaky Cauldron. She took me into her bedroom, and put me on her bed.

"Hi, I'm Hermione." She said, shaking my paw. "I'm a third-year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm a muggle-born, but I think it's great because then I get the best of both worlds and don't have a biased view on things from either world. The red-haired boy you saw before doesn't like you very much. It's because you scared his rat before. Don't worry about it, I'm sure he'll warm up to you eventually. He comes from a pureblood family with six siblings. His name is Ron, a shortened form of Ronald. Finally, the black-haired boy you saw before is Harry." In a lower voice she added, "His parents died when he was a year old. They were mudered by You-Know-Who. He grew up with his mother's sister who doesn't like him very much."

"That's very interesting, Hermione." I felt like saying, "But I already knew that stuff about Harry. 'Cept you got some of it wrong. I'm not dead."

Which left me with one last question. Can cats cry tears?

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You like, no like? Please tell me what you think, leave a review! And if you like "Harry's parent come back to life" stories, check out my other fic, Wish Upon A Falling Star. Yes, it's a rather shameless plug isn't it?

See ya!

Thoughts and Pondering


	2. Remembering

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Anyway, here is the next chapter. If your reading my other story, don't worry half the chapter is already written :D.

Disclaimer: If you think I own Harry Potter, I think you require a trip to your local psychiatrist.

Here's the second chappie.

Remembering.

Bump. Bump. Bump. I wondered what all the bumping was. I lazily opened my eyes. I saw legs. And shoes. I realized I was on the floor of the Hogwarts express. I was in my basket. I mewed softly, so Hermione would know I was awake.

"Oh, Crookshanks, are you awake?" She asked, kneeling down and looking at me.

I meowed my agreement. Hermione swept a wisp of hair out of her face as she fumbled with the straps, letting me out. I leapt out of the basket, and stretched my legs. I looked around the carriage. Harry was sitting next to fire-boy, who was kicking his legs. Next to me was Hermione. And next to Hermione was…I breathed in sharply…Remus Lupin. I hadn't seen him in years…Remus Lupin, one of my best friends at Hogwarts. I leapt at him, hoping to land at his feet, and maybe wake him up. He wasn't looking to well, was it that time of the month?

Of course, I, James Potter, being in actual fact a human, and not a half cat, half kneazle hybrid, miscalculated my jump yet again and landed on fire-boy's lap. I heard a squeaking noise coming from fire-boy's pocket. It was that rat from the pet shop, fire-boy's pet. Fire-boy tried to hit me, flailing his long, lanky arms. I jumped off his lap, and landed on the empty seat between Hermione and Remus. Fire-boy was glaring at me. I glared back. We did this for a little while. It became boring, so I leapt down and curled up at Harry's feet. He scratched me behind the ears absent-mindedly.

Bump, Bump… Bump. The bumps were getting slower and smaller. Then they stopped altogether. I felt my fur rise. Something was not right. Suddenly it felt colder. Much colder. I jumped back on the empty seat between Remus and Hermione. I drew out my claws, and scratched Remus's legs lightly. He didn't show any signs of feeling it.

Wow, he really must be in a bad way.

The lights flickered, then went out. My eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the sudden darkness. The cabin door slid open. In came a girl who must be related to fire-boy. She had the same, fire-red hair. Following her was a slightly pudgy boy. The girl sat in the corner next to Harry. The pudgy boy sat down. On me.

"OUCH!" I meowed. I clawed at the boy. When he finally realised that he was sitting on me, he leapt up. I swiped at his leg for good measure and curled up on Hermione's lap. The windows fogged up. There was tension in the air. Then the door opened. I cowered back, under the seat. In came a Dementor.

It looked around the compartment, and I felt dizzy. Dementors don't affect animals as much as humans, because animals have less complex minds. But I still felt sick, and very, very cold. I was shivering, even though my fur was thick enough to stop me from feeling the usual chills, especially in February when it is cold. Then Remus woke up. He lit his wand. "None of us are hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go!" His face looked stressed and tired.

When the dementor didn't leave, he muttered, "Expecto Patronum!" His wand let out a beam of silver. The dementor let out a high pitched squeal only I could hear. It then fled down the corridor. The lights came back on. Harry had fainted and was on the floor. I walked up to him and licked his face. He woke up a few minutes later, and I was relieved. I curled back up and went to sleep. Hey, I'm a cat. We usually sleep twenty hours a day, right?

It was Monday. The Welcoming Feast had been yesterday, and Hermione had let me out early in the morning, leaving me free to roam Hogwarts grounds. After chasing a few birds, I wandered into Hagrid's pumpkin patch. It was a nice spring day, and I could smell fragrant flowers all around me.

A few bushes behind me rustled. I felt my fur rise. I turned around. And I saw a big, black dog. My first instinct was to run. Then I realised the dog was oddly familiar. Just like the rat at the pet shop had been. I cautiously stepped forward. The dog barked loudly. I tried to translate the canine dialect into feline in my head, but the words weren't familiar.

Damn. Why didn't they have a canine-feline dictionary? Oh, right…most animals can't read. Unless they're an Animagus…

Animagus! Of course, now I remembered who the dog was. An Animagus. By the name of Sirius Black.

Then I remembered lots of things. Things which I hadn't wanted to remember in years.

_--_

_"Padfoot, Wormtail, Moony and Prongs. Friends forever, in the face of darkness, on the side of light. We will do our best to do what's right. Even though the clouds are blocking out the sun, we will strive and hope to still have fun._

_To us! Mr. Padfoot, Mr. Wormtail, Mr. Moony and Mr. Prongs! Friends, brothers, 'til the end of time. Us- marauders, explorers, for forever and more._

_The raising of glasses, the singing of songs, the chanting of friends, can be undone by no one…GROUP HUG!"  
---_

"_James, you can't be nervous. You've been ready for this moment since you were eleven, right? Remember the first day you saw her, you ran straight to the dorm, and declared, right in front of me, Remus and Peter, may I add, that you were in love with her? Then you spent six years chasing her? She always rejected you, thinking, quite rightly in fact, that you were an obnoxious show off? Well now you're waiting here, because the woman of your dreams is getting married to you? No, James, you _can't _be nervous!"_

_--_

"_PREPARE TO DIE, POTTER! You aren't escaping this time, you can run, but you can't hide from Lord Voldemort. You and your Mudblood wife aren't going anywhere! _

"_So, Potter, maybe you escaped last time. Does that make you think you're special? You've defied me three times now…and you even have a son! A son who is the prophecy child…you looked surprised, Potter, what did I tell you about hiding from Lord Voldemort? Did you think you could hide the information from me forever…I guess that just means that two will be dying to night…"_

"_Two?" _

"_I have other plans for you…" _

"What are you going to do with me?

"What, me tell you and spoil the fun for later on? Odd, Potter, you didn't strike me as the type who had to know everything and be in total control of the situation. I thought that position rested with the Mudblood. Who is currently trying to escape through the FIREPLACE. Unless she intends to climb up it, who am I to fathom at what goes through a Mudblood's mind, maybe she though I would 'forget' to put up wards, she'll find that she won't be leaving the house tonight. At least not alive…"

I stopped reminiscing, and looked at the dog- no, Sirius. I meowed my hello. He barked back. The clouds were gathering over head, and it looked like it would soon start raining.

At least we were getting somewhere. "Sirius," I meowed, "Is that you?" He barked in the affirmative, before bounding towards the Whomping Willow, the rain now falling from the clouds, making Sirius's feet all muddy. When we neared the tree, it started swinging its branches. Its leafy green branches were out to hit us as many times as they could. He bounded through the tunnel; his sleek black fur was getting all matted.

We reached the main room of the Shrieking Shack. It looked dilapidated as usual, bite and scratch marks adorning most of the furniture. Sirius then transformed back into his human form.

"You're no cat." He stated.

"I know I'm not." I meowed.

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Yay! Something is actually happening now! Are you excited? Anyway, please, please review. See how nicely I said please?


	3. No Means of Communication

Disclaimer: My name is Natasha, okay? You figure out the rest.

A/N: This is a short chapter, so sorry about that, it's just I think the ending of this chapter is good.

Thank-you for the reviews! I didn't expect so many! If I'm lucky I'll put responses up on my bio. Then again I'm not a very lucky person.

_No Means of Communication_

I meowed again, as a greeting. I tried to raise a paw, but looked more like a dog begging for food.

Sirius walked closer to me, his ragged clothes and pale skin made him look like an undercooked chicken. Why was he dressed like that? Then I remembered a Daily Prophet article a couple of days after my 'death' that I had seen carelessly littering the ground in Diagon Alley.

_Thirteen People Dead: Twelve Muggles and a Wizard: The Work of Sirius Black! _

_An attack in Muggle London today saw the death of thirteen people, twelve of them Muggles. The one wizard who died has been identified as Peter Pettigrew, the department of Magical Law Enforcement, are trying to find his body, to find out what spell could have caused his death, but the discovery of any remains are low. _

_Muggle witnesses say that Mr. Pettigrew shouted out, "Sirius! You betrayed them! Lily and James!" before Mr. Black blasted the street apart with his wand, killing everyone unfortunate enough to have been in the way._

_Lily and James Potter died two nights ago in a tragic attack on their house by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Their only son, Harry, survived. (For more information read "The Boy-Who-Lived" on page 5.)_

_Sirius Black has been moved to a holding cell in the Ministry while awaiting deportation to Azkaban. _

_Witnesses' memories have been wiped, and the department of Muggle Relations have told Muggle emergency services of a gas explosion. _

_Continued on page 3._

He had spent twelve years in Azkaban. And I thought I was hard done by being a cat. A rather hideous one. Shocking orange fur that could probably rival fire-boy. Bandy legs.

I meowed again.

"You can't fool me like that." He said breathily. "Even I can meow like a cat." He did a very pitiful imitation of a cat meowing. I shrunk back, trying to block my ears with my paws, but again falling flat on my stomach.

"So what are you? You're definitely not a cat." He sat down in a chair, but stood up immediately after the chair groaned loudly and gave way, adding to the multitude of broken or dilapidated items in the room.

"Technically, I'm not a cat, I'm a half-cat, half-kneazle. But in all reality, I am James Potter. Your best friend. And yes, I would transform if I could…but I can't, so I shan't. Yes, I realise that is rather childish, but you won't care because all you will hear is the incessant meowing of cat. Unless you can read minds…what was that fancy word for it…legiamanacy or something."

I suddenly stood up and bounded to the bed, where I stretched out my body and stared at Sirius. My left ear itched so I used my hind leg to scratch it. I lay on the blanket of dust and just stared.

He transformed back into the black, bearish dog. He barked at me, running to where I lay. I hissed, jumped off the bed and backed under it. Barking at me a few times, he transformed back into a human when all I did was shrink back. Maybe I would convince him I was a cat.

It wouldn't be too bad to be a cat for the rest of my life, no worries, being able to spend the days licking my paws and scratching my ears, when I was feeling energetic I could chase birds around outside. But then again, there were so many more advantages to being a human.

But what were they? My mind was blank, I could think of nothing. I had spent the last twelve years trying to find Harry, and now what? I hadn't thought that far in the future, I just thought that I would magically become a human again and live happily ever after with my son. But Voldemort had cast a locked spell on me, which meant only he could reverse the effects. Only very powerful wizards could pull them off, but he was one of the most powerful in the world. I jumped back up on the bed.

Oh. Look at that. There was actually a real blanket there, under all that dust.

And now he's dead. And everyone else thinks I am too. If only I could get some message across to Sirius. But I was a cat. Could I still hold a quill to parchment?

"You're not a cat." Sirius repeated. "You don't smell like one. Why don't you answer me? I have all day, there's no where else I can go. And if you're who I think you are, Peter, it would be wise. I know you're a rat. Someone could have transformed between when that picture was taken and now. Maybe one of your Death Eater gang. And if you're not Peter, please forgive me for any inconvenience I may have caused." He finished with a mock bow, accidentally banging into the chair, which immediately fell over.

Peter. I remembered who he was. The memories I had blocked out, too emotional for me to want to remember, that had come crashing back to me the moment I saw Sirius. I was still confused as how I remembered Remus, and not Sirius or Peter. Maybe because events surrounding him after my death had been less tragic. He hadn't died, he hadn't been sent to prison. I think he just left the country for a few years.

And no matter how hard I had tried, I could never forget Lily. I had spent the first few years in my new form trying to forget everything. I managed to forget a lot of memories, like most of my friends, my family, but there was some that I simply couldn't.

Like the sight of Lily's body after she died.

But didn't Peter die? Sirius killed him didn't he? Didn't Voldemort torture him, to get the information about our house? Then I remember what Sirius just said. "One of your Death Eater gang."

Did he betray me of his own accord? Something clicked in my mind. The rat. Fire-boy's pet rat. Could it be Peter? In another sudden movement, I jumped out the slightly open door, leading back to the school, before Sirius had a chance to react. I was already halfway down the tunnel before he realised I was gone and chased after me. Did he kill Peter? Or did Peter betray me? I couldn't trust Sirius right now. And even if I did get a message to him, would he believe me? He had spent twelve years in the most dreaded prison in the Wizarding world.

Maybe he was crazy enough to believe anything.

I had to find Peter. I didn't know what I would do once I did, but if he did indeed kill Lily, he will pay. For I am a cat, and he is a rat, and no one would notice if one more rat died, would they? I didn't know if I could kill him, but maybe I'll find out what really happened…

After the night that I 'died.'

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So whad'ya think? What do you think James should do once he finds Peter. That won't happen for a little while though.

So click the little button down there, kay?

Til next time,

Thoughts and Pondering.


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